“In this manner, therefore, pray…”
Matthew 6:9 NKJV
So far we have seen that God expects us to pray and gives us guidance on what not to do. Today’s post will be similar to the expectation of prayer, but shorter and a bit more blunt. If you’re just doing a cursory reading over this passage, you may miss an important command: pray. I use the word “exhortation” because of the alliteration, but in case it’s a new word to you it means “a command”. There is an exhortation to pray. God explicitly commands it.
Jesus says, “In this manner, therefore, pray…” Much of the time when reading this passage, we just focus on the Lord’s prayer and it’s guidelines for our praying. But this first phrase is Jesus literally telling us to pray. Why point this out? Because not only is prayer expected of us, but we are commanded to pray. It’s not just that God wants us to pray and prefers it – He has instructed us to pray. So consider this: if God gives a command, and we do not obey that command, what do we call that? Sin. Yes, it’s that simple.
Now the question is, am I sinning in every moment that I’m not actively praying? No. But if you completely neglect to pray, then yes that would be sinful. We can serve and be obedient to God by praying to Him.